After a wonderful morning that began with a delicious cup of coffee and then went on to reading, journaling, meditation, some music and a moderate bike ride early this afternoon, I’m resting before meeting a friend at Canadian Blood Services. We are former colleagues and haven’t seen each other in a long time, so we booked our blood donation appointments next to each other’s to have a bit of time to catch up.
I started looking for a relaxing piece to share and landed on “Always Returning” from Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (the original 1983 release by Eno, his brother Roger, and Daniel Lanois).
“Always Returning,” the second-last track on the album, has a pleasing, uncomplicated melody. One of the synthesizer loops has a sound somewhat like a flute. The piece has a quality of floating to it, which for me recalls the romanticizing of space travel, as well as the incredible vistas astronauts witness and share from the International Space Station, flying 350 kilometres (220 miles) above the Earth’s surface.
It seems like there’s a current of hopefulness and contentment running in the music; feelings one gets when, after a long, tiring trip, approaching the familiar landmarks of home. As excited as space travellers would be, I’m sure they experience similar feelings, though there must also be feelings of not wanting such a spectacular journey to end.
The title also makes me think of where we often are in life… we venture out and return home; we experience loss but return to joy and gratitude after a time; we sometimes let each other down, but there can also be forgiveness and reconciliation.
Now you know a little about why this is my song of the day for today. Thanks for joining me here, and please enjoy.
Here’s the video for the song from Brian Eno’s official YouTube channel:
Song of the Day for Today 